Managing change used to be an occasional need, focused on a particular strategy or project. But these days, we know change is the only constant.

That means that leaders need to increase their organisations capabilities to deal with change, innovations and threats.

At X or Y, we favour a simple, flexible approach which allows organisations to learn from best practice and apply the most appropriate tools and techniques for their needs. To do this we designed 24 change cards which capture all the proven ways of bringing about change from many of the business world’s most respected authors on the subject.

From Kotter, to the Heath Brothers, Cialdini, Harvard Business Review, Grenny and Nielsen we extrapolated their key principles and identified 24 possible approaches to change management.

On some of these there is wide agreement, such as the need for Executive Alignment when the initial key decisions get made, or the need for disciplined project management approach.

Others are the focus of just one or two authors, such as the need to create a burning platform, or sense of urgency in the organisation.

Ultimately, I’d argue that none of these authors are right. Each of their books contains a really neat theory with 4 or 6 or 8 steps to change. But none of those neat theories is the right approach for every organisation every time.

Hence X or Y’s approach is to put all of their ideas on the table at once and let the executive team draw on them to decide what are the 5 most important factors to manage change for our organisation right now? The change cards can also be pulled out regularly to discuss how priorities should change as the a change project unfolds.

And by using these cards and learning from their application, organisations increase their capacity to manage change efficiently and effectively.

Some of the key change cards:-

Unequivocal executive alignment upfront on the key decisions

Identifying one or two critical behaviours that will create momentum for change

Over-investing in skills development and coaching to support new behaviours

Harness key influencers and get their buy-in first

Allow staff to have their voices heard and have input into the strategy

Have a tangible vision whereby staff can literally see themselves in the future version of the organisation

Chunk the change down into small steps which can start today

Be seen to empower staff by removing obstacles such as processes, systems or people

Selecting from the cards allows the organisation to create a change management approach which is both proven, and tailored to their organisation at that moment in time.